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A Statement of the President of The LC-MS
Americn Lutheran Publicity Bureau ^ | 25 August AD 2009 | Dr. Gerald B. Kieschnick

Posted on 08/25/2009 5:10:31 PM PDT by lightman

Statement of the president of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod in response to certain actions of the 2009 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America August 24, 2009

The two largest Lutheran church bodies in the United States are the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) with 4.8 million members and The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod (LCMS) with 2.4 million members.

On Friday, Aug. 21, the Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America voted to open the ministry of the ELCA to gay and lesbian pastors and other professional workers living in "committed relationships." In an earlier action, the assembly approved a resolution that commits the ELCA "to finding ways to allow congregations that choose to do so to recognize, support, and hold publicly accountable life-long, monogamous, same-gender relationships."

The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod has repeatedly affirmed as its own position the historical understanding of the Christian church that the Bible condemns homosexual behavior as "intrinsically sinful." It is therefore contrary to the will of the Creator and constitutes sin against the commandments of God (Lev. 18:22, 24,20:13; 1 Cor. 6:9-20; 1 Tim 1:9-10; and Rom. 1:26, 27).

Addressing the ELCA assembly on Saturday, Aug. 22, I responded to their aforementioned actions, stating: "The decisions by this assembly to grant non-celibate homosexual ministers the privilege of serving as rostered leaders in the ELCA and the affirmation of same-gender unions as pleasing to God will undoubtedly cause additional stress and disharmony within the ELCA. It will also negatively affect the relationships between our two church bodies. The current division between our churches threatens to become a chasm. This grieves my heart and the hearts of all in the ELCA, the LCMS, and other Christian church bodies throughout the world who do not see these decisions as compatible with the Word of God, or in agreement with the consensus of 2,000 years of Christian theological affirmation regarding what Scripture teaches about human sexuality. Simply stated, this matter is fundamentally related to significant differences in how we [our two church bodies] understand the authority of Holy Scripture and the interpretation of God's revealed and infallible Word."

Doctrinal decisions adopted already in 2001 led the LCMS, in sincere humility and love, to declare that we could no longer consider the ELCA "to be an orthodox Lutheran church body" (2001 Res 3-21A). Sadly, the decisions of this past week to ignore biblical teaching on human sexuality have reinforced that conclusion. We respect the desire to follow conscience in moral decision making, but conscience may not overrule the Word of God.

We recognize that many brothers and sisters within the ELCA, both clergy and lay, are committed to remaining faithful to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, are committed to the authority of Holy Scripture, and strongly oppose these actions. To them we offer our assurance of loving encouragement together with our willingness to provide appropriate support in their efforts to remain faithful to the Word of God and the historic teachings of the Lutheran church and all other Christian churches for the past 2,000 years.

Dr. Gerald B. Kieschnick, President The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod

"Transforming lives through Christ's love ... in time ... for eternity ..." John 3:16-17


TOPICS: Current Events; Mainline Protestant; Ministry/Outreach; Moral Issues
KEYWORDS: elca; homosexualagenda; lcms; lutheran
We recognize that many brothers and sisters within the ELCA, both clergy and lay, are committed to remaining faithful to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, are committed to the authority of Holy Scripture, and strongly oppose these actions. To them we offer our assurance of loving encouragement together with our willingness to provide appropriate support in their efforts to remain faithful to the Word of God and the historic teachings of the Lutheran church and all other Christian churches for the past 2,000 years.

As one of that faithful remnant minority, I appreciate that support.

1 posted on 08/25/2009 5:10:32 PM PDT by lightman
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To: aberaussie; Aeronaut; aliquando; AlternateViewpoint; AnalogReigns; Archie Bunker on steroids; ...


Lutheran Ping!
2 posted on 08/25/2009 5:11:19 PM PDT by lightman (Adjutorium nostrum (+) in nomine Domini.)
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To: Huber; sionnsar; Salvation; NYer; Kolokotronis

Ping.


3 posted on 08/25/2009 5:12:14 PM PDT by lightman (Adjutorium nostrum (+) in nomine Domini.)
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To: lightman

God bless the LCMS.


4 posted on 08/25/2009 5:24:41 PM PDT by B-Chan (Catholic. Monarchist. Texan. Any questions?)
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To: lightman; Huber; LibreOuMort
A couple in our Anglican parish, received some years ago (refugees from the ELCA) were talking about this Sunday, and not happily. As a former Episcopalian I know some of what they're going through -- but they're in a good place here and don't have the issues of the "World-wide [whatever]" to deal with.

They're good people; please pray for the healing that's not yet complete.

5 posted on 08/25/2009 5:26:48 PM PDT by sionnsar (IranAzadi|5yst3m 0wn3d-it's N0t Y0ur5:SONY|Remember Neda Agha-Soltan|TV--it's NOT news you can trust)
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To: lightman

“The Parable of the Weeds”

24Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
27”The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’

28” ‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.
“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’

29” ‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. 30Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’ “ (NIV)

These verses speak of God’s harvest.

Of course the ELCA leadership not understanding what the actual harvest is would say that those leaving are the weeds.

It looks like the LC-MS is going to reap some new members.

Just a part of Gods plan.

Thanks be to God.


6 posted on 08/25/2009 5:31:49 PM PDT by right way right (Do not mistake Religion for God.)
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To: lightman

As a former ELCA Lutheran and now a LCMS Lutheran, Keischnick said it brilliantly.


7 posted on 08/25/2009 5:33:24 PM PDT by Conservativegreatgrandma (Al Franken--the face of the third-party voters)
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To: sionnsar

Thanks for the prayers. I am currently a member of an ELCA Church. We, as a Church, are figuring out how to deal with this.


8 posted on 08/25/2009 7:51:18 PM PDT by aliquando (A Scout is T, L, H, F, C, K, O, C, T, B, C, and R.)
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To: lightman
This grieves my heart and the hearts of all in the ELCA, the LCMS, and other Christian church bodies throughout the world who do not see these decisions as compatible with the Word of God, or in agreement with the consensus of 2,000 years of Christian theological affirmation regarding what Scripture teaches about human sexuality.

As a Catholic, this state of affairs grieves my heart, too.

God bless and guide the faithful remnant who are caught up in this horrible turmoil. God have Mercy on those others.

9 posted on 08/25/2009 9:31:47 PM PDT by Lauren BaRecall (I am only ONE of many real Jim Thompsons, yet I am ONE.)
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To: lightman
Doctrinal decisions adopted already in 2001 led the LCMS, in sincere humility and love, to declare that we could no longer consider the ELCA "to be an orthodox Lutheran church body" (2001 Res 3-21A).

There have been many times I disagreed with Dr. Kieschnick, but he hit the nail on the head with this statement. I bet we have this as our adult Bible class within the next two or three weeks.

10 posted on 08/26/2009 4:30:04 AM PDT by Arrowhead1952 (Jimmy Carter - now the second worst POTUS ever. BHO has #1 spot in his sights.)
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We respect the desire to follow conscience in moral decision making, but conscience may not overrule the Word of God.

Amen!


11 posted on 08/26/2009 7:04:14 AM PDT by Arkansas Toothpick
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To: lightman
Doctrinal decisions adopted already in 2001 led the LCMS, in sincere humility and love, to declare that we could no longer consider the ELCA "to be an orthodox Lutheran church body" (2001 Res 3-21A). Sadly, the decisions of this past week to ignore biblical teaching on human sexuality have reinforced that conclusion. We respect the desire to follow conscience in moral decision making, but conscience may not overrule the Word of God.

We recognize that many brothers and sisters within the ELCA, both clergy and lay, are committed to remaining faithful to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, are committed to the authority of Holy Scripture, and strongly oppose these actions. To them we offer our assurance of loving encouragement together with our willingness to provide appropriate support in their efforts to remain faithful to the Word of God and the historic teachings of the Lutheran church and all other Christian churches for the past 2,000 years.

Ping for later

12 posted on 08/26/2009 7:33:50 AM PDT by Alex Murphy (One man, alone! Betrayed by the country he loves, now its last hope in their final hour of need!)
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